Bell Work

 What is Oral History?

 What are some examples of oral history that we

have discussed already?
 Objective
 Students will be able to define the
purpose of collecting former slave
narratives by the Federal Writer’s
Project.
 What is the Federal
Writer’s Project?
 One of FDR’sNew Deal Programs created to
employ Americans, especially writers.
 Started in 1936 ended in 1940
 FWP (for short) collected regional stories, to
show the lived experiences of people in that
particular region.
 The stories would be published into books,
as part of the American Guide Series.
 Goal of the FWP
 The Goal of the FWP was to show

the diversity of American culture,

in hopes of creating a new more

inclusive American identity.

 Why former slaves?
 While interviewing Americans in
the South.
 The interviewers realized the
importance of documenting
stories about slavery from the
last generation of African
Americans who experienced
slavery.
 Interviewers then started new
publications that focused on
former slave narratives.
 Let’s Talk About…
 Former slaves were encouraged to talked
about slavery, but many wanted to talk
about other topics like…

• Family • Civil War

• Religion • Life in the present
• Folk Lore • Life Achievements
• Major Life Events • Oral Histories
 Did that really happen?
 Narrator bias
 Faulty memory
 Tall Tales/Embleshiment
 Scared

 Interviewer bias
 Whitewashing of language
 Transcribing incorrectly
 Own Judgments

 Historians debate the accuracy of the narratives.

 But like all primary sources you have to appreciate the source/
narrative for what it is and respect how difficult it might have
been for people to talk about their lives as slaves
 What did you learn?
 Write down 2 things that you
learned on you note taker.
 Stand Up Hand Up Pair Up
1. Stand up

2. Pair up with someone across the room (bring your

note taker with you)

3. Give them a High Five!

4. Sit down together

5. Share the two things you learned

6. When finished, stop talking and look up at the

teacher.
 Your Turn!
 You get to choose one of the slave narratives
printed in your note taker to read. Please read a
different one from your partner.

 Once you both have read your chosen narrative. One

partner is going to play the role of the interviewer
and ask their partner the listed interview questions.

 The partner responses to the interviewer’s questions

using the information from the narrative that the
partner read.

 Interviewers must write down their partner’s

responses on the note taker.

 Then switch